The City of Tshwane has announced planned daily power outages that will affect several eastern suburbs as part of ongoing construction and upgrade work at a key substation. The interruptions will affect residents and businesses supplied by the Wapadrand 132/11kV substation and will occur over three consecutive days.
According to the city, the planned power outages form part of broader efforts to modernise ageing infrastructure and strengthen electricity supply across the metro. The Energy and Electricity Business Unit stated that the interruption is necessary to enable safe construction and upgrading work to proceed at the substation.
“The City of Tshwane’s Energy and Electricity Business Unit wishes to inform residents and businesses supplied by the Wapadrand 132/11kV substation of a planned electricity supply interruption,” the city said in a notice.
Infrastructure upgrades aimed at long-term reliability in Tshwane
City officials stated that the work falls under Tshwane’s infrastructure renewal programme, which focuses on enhancing the performance of the electricity network and improving future capacity. The municipality emphasised that although the power outage may cause short-term inconvenience, the upgrades will ensure long-term stability.
“The work forms part of the city’s ongoing infrastructure renewal programme aimed at improving network reliability, capacity and long-term electricity supply security,” the city said.
As part of the project, Transformer B at the Wapadrand substation will undergo construction-related work for three days, from Tuesday, 27 January to Thursday, 29 January. Due to the technical nature of the upgrade, the electricity supply will be unavailable during working hours.
Areas affected and safety warning to residents
The city confirmed that the power outage will last six hours each day, from 9:00 to 15:00, for the duration of the work. Several residential areas and business zones supplied by the Wapadrand substation will be affected.
The impacted areas include Wapadrand supply areas, Silver Lakes, Six Fountains, Equestria, Faerie Glen and Lombardy. Residents and businesses in these areas have been advised to plan accordingly, particularly those relying on electricity for daily operations.
The municipality also issued a strong safety warning to the public during the power outage period.
“Customers are advised to treat all electricity supply points as live at all times,” the city cautioned.
